When you brace for menopause, you expect to go through a number of physical changes. But one of the least talked about issues can also be one of the most uncomfortable. Specifically, your body makes less estrogen as you get older, and as a result, most women experience vaginal atrophy.
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to live with the unpleasant changes. At our PureMD MedSpa locations in Beavercreek, Liberty Township, Miamisburg, and Dayton, Ohio, Suresh Gupta, MD, and our team offer vaginal rejuvenation treatments to help reverse some of the signs of vaginal atrophy.
How do you know it’s time to seek treatment? Here are five telltale signs of this condition.
1. Increased dryness
One of the key indicators that you’re experiencing vaginal atrophy is a decrease in your body’s lubrication. With less estrogen, dryness increases. As estrogen continues to decline, your moisture levels usually go down with it, making your dryness problem worse over time.
2. Urinary changes
Ultimately, your vaginal health and your continence are linked. As your vaginal tissue atrophies, it can affect your urinary tract. This makes you more likely to deal with incontinence issues.
You might notice urine leakage when you cough, laugh, or lift something heavy, for example. You may also start to feel the need to use the restroom more, and that urge might come on suddenly.
3. Uncomfortable sex
Increased dryness can make sex less comfortable, but that’s not the only reason some women experience issues in the bedroom.
Vaginal atrophy can cause your vaginal canal to get tighter and shorter while also thinning your vaginal lining. Compounded by dryness, this can make intercourse an outright painful undertaking.
4. Burning or itching
It’s common for women to experience burning and itching sensations after menopause. This is another dryness-related issue worsened by the inflammation that accompanies vaginal atrophy.
5. More frequent UTIs
Estrogen helps keep the bacteria in your vagina balanced, ensuring that healthy bacteria thrive and bad bacteria can’t flourish. But with less estrogen as you get older, problem bacteria have a better chance at surviving. This leads to an increase in urinary tract infections (UTIs) that coincides with vaginal atrophy.
Reversing vaginal atrophy
If you’re experiencing any or all of these unwelcome changes, we can help. With our vaginal rejuvenation treatments, we apply laser or radiofrequency energy to stimulate regeneration in your vaginal tissue, helping to fend off atrophy and minimize your symptoms. Specifically, we offer:
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- DiVa®
- ThermiVa®
- MLP
- ProFractional™ lasers
To explore your options to protect your vaginal health through the years, call the PureMD MedSpa office nearest to you or book your visit online today.
